The Darkness released their third album, Hot Cakes, in August of last year. It was their first album since 2005, following the band's split, and subsequent reunion in 2011.

But in an interview with Billboard, guitarist Dan Hawkins promises that album number four isn't that far off: “I think it's important the next album comes out quickly […] This year we'll be touring (to support Hot Cakes) and writing, then early 2014 we'll hopefully be recording it or continuing to write it, and get it out later that year.“

As far as the musical direction of the next album, Dan says: “I think we want to get even more old school. We want to make it even more of a performance record. We just want to be really brave and try to do something as live as humanly possible, warts and all. We've lost a bit of that in music today.”

The band seems more committed than ever to making music and putting on a great show for their fans. As Dan says “What's the point of being in a rock 'n' roll band if you don't take it to 11? Now the music is on 11, the gigs are on 11 but the drug intake is on, like, zero to one. That's how it should be.”

The Darkness are currently on tour in the U.S., and will be hitting Europe in mid February.